Thai visa backpedal sparks ire at Vietnamese travel firms  A tourist (L) walks past an advert for a shopping mall in Travel agents and tourism experts in According to a bilateral agreement between the Vietnamese and Thai governments, Vietnamese passport holders can stay in But new regulations issued by the Thai Immigration Bureau, on August 12, began requiring Vietnamese who frequently enter Under the new regulations, Thai authorities recommended that foreign tourists be prepared to present return air tickets and hotel booking confirmations to Thai customs officers. Last year 2,812 Vietnamese people were arrested in An estimated 500,000 Vietnamese traveled to Nguyen Van My, director of Ho Chi Minh City-based Lua Viet Tours Co., Ltd., said he was surprised by the new rules. “Using visa rules to stop illegal foreign workers, including Vietnamese, from entering According to My, Within the ASEAN bloc, “That is discriminatory and violates a visa exemption pact signed by every ASEAN nation,” My said. He called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnam Tourism Association to raise their voice in the matter. Tran Vinh Loc, director of Lac Hong Voyages Co., Ltd., said the new rules are troublesome because they essentially invite Thai immigration officers to create problems for Vietnamese tourists who aren't traveling in groups or through travel companies. He assumed that “For its part, He called Pham Truong Luong, deputy chief of the Institute for Tourism Development Research, said Thailand’s new visa rules may be just temporary, as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar continue mulling a single-visa policy that would enable tourists to travel freely between the five nations. Nguyen Van Tuan, chief of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, told Thanh Nien the agency is reviewing the details of “It is true that a number of Vietnamese capitalized on visa exemptions to work illegally in “But |
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